Disabled veteran may lose his Middle Smithfield home

Monday

Feb 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Benjamin Bird of Middle Smithfield, a soft-spoken U.S. Army veteran who served a tour in Iraq as an artilleryman, has learned that civilian life can be as difficult in some ways as serving in the military.

WAYNE WITKOWSKI

Benjamin Bird of Middle Smithfield, a soft-spoken U.S. Army veteran who served a tour in Iraq as an artilleryman, has learned that civilian life can be as difficult in some ways as serving in the military.

"Boy, did I learn that," said Bird, who now is in a race against time to determine where he and his family will live in the weeks ahead.

Bird, 34, works for the U.S. Department of Defense since he completed military service. He now is a disabled veteran. He was moved by the department to this area at a $20,000 federal expense from Huntsville, Ala., with his wife, Deidre, and three children who are students in East Stroudsburg Area School District schools — sons Andrew, 16, and Alex, 6, and daughter Aiden, 14.

The Birds moved to the area on Aug. 12, 2011. He requested this area because he wanted to be able to stay close to his extended family in Weatherly, near Hazleton, and yet commute to his job.

He rented the chalet in Bartonsville for a month and found the ideal location, he thought. Bird told a local real estate office he wanted a long-term lease of three to five years. He was told that he could only rent on a yearly lease, but that it should roll over easily.

He found a residence not only a good fit for his family but for himself as a disabled veteran with a brace on his right leg. It's difficult for him to climb stairs and to walk too much. Sometimes it is so painful that he needs crutches.

Bird was injured during his service with the 101st Airborne from Sept. 16, 2001, to May 17, 2005, and rose to the rank of E4 specialist — just below sergeant.

He injured his leg "kicking down doors, things like that" in the line of duty.

"I had to perform at the level of a professional athlete during the entire deployment, physically strenuous but routine for the military," he said.

It led to compression fractures, stress fractures that caused the tibia (between the knee and ankle) to shorten up and rotate outward, he said. When he returned stateside, he could not run during physical training and had worsening back pain. The tibia needed to be reconstructed with several surgeries, which he said couldn't be done while he served.

He was deemed unemployable by the VA and lived on VA and Social Security disability from 2007-10, but chose to return to work for the DOD in Yuma, Ariz., where he had to stay during work schedules.

"I relinquished my disability in lieu of becoming a productive citizen and taxpayer — supporting the system that assisted me in my convalescence," he said.

Bird asked to be reassigned back to his roots.

But on Jan. 29, an officer from the Monroe County Sheriff's Department served him an eviction notice. He later learned while checking county court records that it was listed for foreclosure in early 2010 — long before he moved in.

It was put on sheriff's sale in late August and purchased by Fannie Mae.

"The real estate office never told me that," he said. "They (Fannie Mae) didn't say when we had to leave. They just said it has to be soon."

For Bird, that doesn't come easy. He needs a house that he says is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant where most of the living space is on the main floor.

"Right now, it's three steps from the (front) door to the car," Bird said. "The master bedroom can be on the second floor because I'd use that only for sleeping, but it has to be a substantial 4-by-4 railing to get me upstairs (by allowing him to put his weight on it while taking the steps). The pain and lack of mobility is intermittent. It's kind of frustrating."

Bird went to the Monroe County Courthouse in late January and filed on his own for an intent to defend and a stay on the ruling until he could hire an attorney. He awaits a response from Fannie Mae.

He said he recently re-sent his letter to another Fannie Mae representative who telephoned Bird to say she would attempt to get it to the right person to contact him.

Bird explained in a letter that he can't buy a house, because his credit is "severely damaged" by costly surgeries and the loss of a house to foreclosure he owned in Huntsville after attempts to modify and/or process a deed.

"The VA covered the cost of all my surgeries, eventually," Bird said. "It happened after the hospital — I was sent to the University of Alabama Hospital due to the complexity of the surgeries — billed me and I had to act as my own billing administrator to try and have the VA pay for the covered procedures. In the meantime, I was sent to creditors constantly throughout the four years and multiple surgeries while attempting to forge through the bureaucratic nightmare of VA/UAB paperwork and procedure."

As for his rental experience, it was an awakening.

"I learned a hard lesson," Bird said, noting that he should've checked on the house beforehand to make sure it had no foreclosure issues, something he never would've thought of doing because he thought the real estate office did its fact-finding.

Bird agreed it's a lesson to be learned, not just for veterans returning from military service, but for civilians looking for a place to live, especially with the high rate of foreclosures in the Monroe County area.

In a twist to "Buyer beware," this one warns, "Let the renter beware."